Taming Petruchio
by Lady Mac
Summary: It will take a very special girl to curb Howl Jenkins's “mad and headstrong humor” – does transfer student Sophie Hatter have what it takes? I'm still working on this, don't worry.
1. This One Time, At Band Camp

Taming Petruchio

By Lady Mac

Summary: Like Petruchio in Shakespeare's _The Taming of the Shrew_, Howl Jenkins has had his share of women – and he's only a junior in high school! But this time, it is _he _who must be tamed. It will take a very special girl to curb his "mad and headstrong humor" – does transfer student Sophie Hatter have what it takes?

Alternate Universe, romance/general. Rating for language, may change.

Inspiration from the movie and the book.

For future reference: "Woczieowski" is pronounced "_wa_-ja-**_how_**-ski." Yes, it's a real name.

****

Chapter One

This One Time, At Band Camp …

Sophie Hatter sat by herself on the top step in the Band room at Porthaven High School. It was nearly six forty-five on Wednesday morning, and the stereo system was blaring while upperclassmen and new freshmen mingled within their groups, socializing while they waited for the Drum Majors to call the chaos to order.

Sophie wondered how she had gotten herself into this. She and her family had just moved to Porthaven that June, and already she was at the August band camp for new members. She was two years older than all the freshmen, and didn't know any of the upperclassmen. No one had seemed to notice her except for the tall boy with long, dark hair who had pointed out the table of name tags to her. Noticing that his was so full of doodles and stickers that his name wasn't even legible, she quickly found the one that read "Sophie, flute" and sat down quietly.

She looked over at the clump of students that the dark-haired boy was in the middle of. They were all laughing about something, and her heart gave a strange flutter at the sight of his glee-filled face. He flipped his hair back, and she caught a glimmer of something near his neck. Did he have an earring?

The music suddenly stopped, and a short girl in a green tie-dye shirt climbed onto a chair and clapped her hands authoritatively. "Okay, everybody! Quiet down, sit down, look up here!" The noise died down, and the girl smiled. "Okay. I'm Jenny Beattie, your senior Drum Major this year."

"I'm Andy Woczieowski," said a tallish boy in a matching shirt, and Sophie realized he was the one who had turned off the stereo. "I'm a junior Drum Major."

"And I'm Nick McFarlane," said a boy with bright orange hair that clashed terribly with his shirt. He stepped up beside Jenny and Andy. "I'm also a junior, and I'll be working closely with the Percussion section." He waved his index finger at a bunch of freshmen in the back, and they laughed at him.

"These," said Jenny, indicating the bunch of people behind her, "are the Vets. They represent most of the sections, and they'll be helping us teach you everything you need to know for marching. Go around and introduce yourselves, your instrument, your grade."

Sophie paid close attention as they all listed their name, grade, and part, but she lost her focus when the dark-haired boy stepped forward. "I'm Howl Jenkins. I'm a junior, and I play euphonium and sousaphone. And no, I'm not English, I'm Welsh."

Half the freshman girls tittered headily. Sophie might have joined in, had she remembered to breathe. His accent – now that she noticed it – was amazingly dreamy. She thought he might have been making it stronger on purpose just then, to get the attention of the girls. She hadn't noticed it when he had fist spoken to her. How long had he been in the States to have that kind of control?

"Okay!" Jenny clapped her hands, startling Sophie out of her trance. "Mr. Salentine is here now, so he'll take attendance."

Sophie's name came halfway through the flutes, and she raised her hand meekly. She thought she caught Howl looking at her, but he looked away quickly, and she averted her gaze as well.

When Mr. Salentine had finished, they did a few strange warm-ups, then headed outside to the parking lot.

The game was called "Do You Know Your Neighbor," and Sophie sincerely hoped that she didn't get caught in the middle. The first time someone answered "yes," she nearly panicked in the melee and ran right into Howl. He grabbed her arm to keep her from toppling over, then flashed her a quick grin before disappearing. In the end, a short, blonde freshman was left. "Michelle!" prompted Jenny.

"Michelle! Do you know your neighbor?" Sophie could barely follow along with the rest of the group, she was breathing so hard.

"No," said Michelle, beaming. "But I think Howl Jenkins is super-fine!"

At least a dozen girls poured into the center of the circle, and over the top Sophie saw Howl's own dark head, in with the group. He was laughing so hard that he could barely stand up, and a few seconds later was alone in the center of the circle. The drum majors and several "vets" were nearly rolling on the ground with laughter, and when they finally regained control of themselves the game continued, though with a few added snorts and chortles.

"Howl! Do you know your neighbor?"

"No," he said, winking at Michelle. "But I was born in a different country!"

No one moved. He looked around eagerly, then slouched. When he spoke again, his accent was much less pronounced. "Oh, come on, you guys. Fine. I … quit the swim team!"

Still nothing.

"Whatever. I play brass!"

Half the group moved that time, and Sophie actually did stop breathing when Howl appeared beside her. "What, you don't think I'm super-fine?"

Sophie stared at him, speechless and doubtless bright red.

"I mean, you didn't move when Michelle said that. Not that I'm offended or anything." He waved it off easily. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen you move much at all. Are you feeling okay?"

Sophie suddenly felt like she was drowning in a pot of boiling water. Her vision swam, her stomach lurched, and Howl's voice came from far away. "Sophie?"

She moved rapidly in and out of consciousness, lost in a labyrinth of blurry images, until she gave up fighting and let the darkness take over.

Her eyes opened a split second later, and she looked up into Howl's face. He had managed to grab her in the moment before she hit the ground, and now was clutching her to his body at an angle that must have been very uncomfortable.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?"

"No," she whispered.

People started to gather around, and the drum majors and Mr. Salentine pushed through.

"Do you think you can walk?" Howl asked.

She shook her head slowly and raised a hand to her burning forehead. "No."

One of his arms went under her knees, and he lifted her swiftly off the ground.

"Can you handle this, Howl?" Mr. Salentine asked as he walked swiftly past. "I can have someone go with you."

"It's fine," Howl said. "She's just dehydrated, probably. I've got water inside."

"You just wanna be alone with her!" called a voice from the band.

"Jeff, 'ch re 'n gyfryw hysg!" Howl spat, and continued into the building with Sophie.

"What?" she asked faintly.

"Never mind," he said. "I was just telling Jeff what a bastard he is."

When they reached the Band room, Howl set her down on the chair in the middle. "Put your head between your knees," he said. "I'll get you some water, okay?" He wet a paper towel from his bottle, then carefully pushed her long braid out of the way and set it on the back of her neck. "That feel better?"

"A little." She struggled to control her breathing. Being alone with Howl wasn't helping her nerves, but she knew the last thing she wanted to do was pass out for real. "Thanks for helping me."

"No problem. Here, drink this."

She sat up slowly and accepted his water bottle. The liquid was blessedly cool, and she began to feel better. When she set the bottle down, she noticed he was watching her and blushed again.

"You gotta stop being embarrassed," he said, quickly pressing it to her forehead. "You'll overheat again. And there's no reason to be shy around me."

She smiled and averted her gaze. "I can't help it. You're …" She couldn't bring herself to say what Michelle had. "Really attractive. And nice. And … well, you're the first person who's talked to me."

He pulled up a chair in front of her and straddled it. "I told you, don't be shy. You won't make any friends that way, and you're probably a really great person."

She looked down at his legs, which were thin and covered with dark hair.

"Admiring my chicken legs?"

She looked up hurriedly. "I – chicken legs?"

He laughed. "That's what the guys on swim used to call them. They look real gross when they're shaved."

Sophie made a face. "That's wonderful."

He crossed his ankles and leaned on the back of the chair, smiling at her. "You're cute."

She turned bright red. "What!"

He laughed and stood up. "Never mind. If you're feeling better, we can go back outside."

Hurriedly, she finished the water and followed him out the door.

__

To be continued …

Okay, and now I'm gonna explain all the names and stuff of the supporting cast, if you care. Jenny Beattie is a combination of TW's senior drum majors from the last two years, Andy Woczieowski is the two junior DMs (both Andy) and last year's sophomore (who resigned) combined with an old friend of mine. Nick McFarlane is sort of someone I co-starred in _Macbeth_ with, only given an Irish last name. His personality is that of the sophomore DM (see above), only not jerky and actually responsible (wow, imagine that). Howl is kind of a cross between the Howl we know and love, Mimi (short for Mini-me, real name Paul) who is a sophomore sousaphonist, and Jeff (as described below). That makes for a _lot_ of arrogance. Mr. Salentine's name comes from the artistic director at a community theatre I work at sometimes, as does Mr. Desper (not introduced yet). Michelle is any random preppy freshman, and Jeff is Jeff. You'd have to know him.

In a future chapter, Howl's whole colorful past love life will be laid out! Look forward to it!

"Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty./ A summer's day will seem an hour but short/ Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport."

William Shakespeare, _Venus and Adonis_.


	2. Kate

Taming Petruchio

By Lady Mac

Helllooooo, readers! Sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus. I started college last fall, and was basically busy the entire time. No kidding. Didn't even open this _file_ to work on it.

But now I'm back, whipped the end of this chapter together (sorry if it's a bit short), and I've got some interesting ideas for the future. I had a whole other A/N typed out at the beginning of this, but I alluded to a lot of stuff that I can't remember at all, so I just took it out. Enjoy the story!

Now playing: Random symphonies. Yeah!

Disclaimer: Howl and Sophie belong to DWJ and Ghibli. Kate is copyright 2005 to K. Gross. Additional thanks to Meike and Crystal for coming up with lots of random chicks, and good ol' LU for letting me out for the summer!

Chapter Two

Kate

On the first day of school, Sophie arrived an hour early and found her locker without incident. The remainder of band camp had gone smoothly enough, and she'd managed to avoid any more one-on-one situations with Howl. She'd even begun making a few friends with other juniors in the flute section, though she liked the clarinetists better.

Sophie sensed someone standing behind her, and turned around to face a girl about her height with deep black hair. She was wearing a black tank top and pants with chains, and had a silver stud through her right eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Is this your locker?"

"Yes …"

She stuck out a hand wrapped in a pink fishnet stocking. "I'm Kate, your locker partner."

Sophie accepted. "Sophie Hatter. Nice to meet you."

"You messy?" she asked, stepping around her and slinging her messenger bag to the floor.

"I … don't really know. We didn't have lockers at my old school."

"Well, I'm a neat-freak. So if you're nice to me, I might clean up your stuff for you." She turned to the locker and started putting her things in. "On the other hand, if I decide I don't like you, I'll make your life a living hell."

Sophie couldn't help but be a little overwhelmed by this. "Uh … okay?"

Kate turned and smiled a frightening sort of smile. "You'll be good, I think. It's been a while since I've had a locker partner."

"I … thanks?"

"Good morning, Sophie."

She nearly died from the shock of realizing that the deep, Welsh-accented voice behind her belonged to none other than Howl Jenkins.

"How do you know Sophie?" Kate demanded.

He shrugged. "She's in band. Why, am I not supposed to, or something?"

She turned back to the locker. "Get outta here, Brit Boy, you're scaring my locker partner."

"Yeah, like you won't."

"Go to class."

"Why should I?"

"Builds character."

"I've got plenty already."

"Do it anyways."

"Fine. See you later, Sophie!" He waved over his shoulder as he walked away down the hall.

She waved feebly back. "Oh, God."

"What? And don't tell me you're an ultra-conservative Christian or something."

"Oh, no, not at all. Just … I don't think I can deal with having Howl around this much."

Kate sighed. "Well, I think you'd best get used to it. He's got the hots for you and he's not trying to hide it at all. My advice is to either learn to like him or scare him away."

"How do I do that?"

"Turn into me," she said. "Though he actually went out with me for a while, until we realized that The Gap and Hot Topic are not exactly a cute couple. Whatever you do, though, watch out. I know you're new, so you haven't heard all the stories yet."

"Stories? What sort of stories?"

"Howl is a notorious womanizer," she said bluntly. "Since freshman year he's had ten girlfriends. I was number nine."

Sophie's face paled. "_Ten_ girlfriends?"

Kate nodded. "Yep. So watch out, if you don't like him. He's unbelievably persistent."

"How in the world did he have _ten_ girlfriends?"

"He usually broke up with them pretty quickly. There were a couple he lasted a while with, but most he dumped them after just a week or so. Except the last one. They went out for, like, three months, and he really liked her. But then he caught her cheating with some guy from swim, or something. Totally crushed him."

"Wow. I'll bet that's a real slap in the face for someone like him."

"Oh, definitely," Kate said, digging through her things. "So much in fact, that his grades started to drop. Erin pulled him back together in time for exams, but it couldn't save his Latin grade."

"Who's Erin?"

"She was number three. They got along really well, but they broke it off when she realized she was lesbian."

Sophie was more than a little stunned. "Woah."

"It's fine, though," Kate said, standing up with an armful of books. "They're best friends now, totally inseparable. Come to think of it, you'd probably like Erin a lot. She's a friend of mine, too." She glanced up at the clock. "I've gotta go. I'm a TA for Photography, so I have to be there early. See you later!" With that, she strode off down the hall.

Sophie quickly gathered what she needed for her first two classes, then set off to find her A.P. Chemistry class. It wasn't too difficult to locate, though it was at the end of a hall, and the teacher looked up when she walked into the otherwise empty classroom. "Are you Sophie Hatter?"

"Yes," she said timidly.

"Great," she said. "I'm Mrs. Walker. Did you get the homework I sent out for the summer?"

Sophie nodded. The assignments and workbook had come in the mail, and she had managed to find a copy of the book at the public library.

"Great," Mrs. Walker said. "I was a little worried that you might not be on top of the work, since you weren't here last year. But it sounds like you're all set." She looked up again, and noticed that Sophie was still standing sort of uncomfortably by the door. "You can sit wherever you want," she prompted.

Sophie quickly chose a seat near the back, and relaxed a little when she heard some voices coming down the hall.

"Oh my God, are you kidding?" said a girl. "So much for being smooth!"

"Well, it isn't like I was _trying_ to make her uncomfortable. I think she's just naturally shy."

Sophie's brain froze. _No …_

Howl walked into the room, accompanied by a girl with short red hair whose t-shirt read "$3 bill." Sophie barely registered that this must be Erin.

"Hey, Sophie!" Howl said, turning suddenly as he noticed her. He dropped his books on the desk in front of hers and sat down, straddling the back of the chair. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Leave the poor girl alone," Erin said, smacking the back of his head with a binder. "I wouldn't blame her if she doesn't talk to you for a year. Shame on you, lady-killer."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he said, turning around and leaving Sophie temporarily to herself. "I seem to recall I even got a _lesbian_ to date me."

"I wasn't fully aware of myself at the time," she retorted haughtily.

"That's just an excuse."

-----#&#-----

Sophie ran into Kate at their locker after having stumbled through the first half of her day.

"Hey kid," said Kate. "How's your day treatin' you so far?"

"I'm just glad it's almost lunch," Sophie replied with a sigh. "I have Symphonic Band, then I get a break. I only hope I don't have to deal with Howl too much more."

"_More_?" Kate said, obviously surprised. "Don't tell me you have _class_ with him!"

Sophie nodded dejectedly. "First hour AP Chem, third hour Precalc, and just now English. And he won't leave me alone!"

"Oooh, then you won't be too happy with what's up next," Kate said with a shake of her dark head. "He's in Symphonic Band, too, which means you'll have the same lunch."

"When do you have lunch?" Sophie asked hopefully. "Maybe I could sit with you?"

"Sorry, kid. I have B lunch, then Jewelry and Metals, which I can't afford to miss a minute of. Lofty ambitions and the like." She gave a brief salute and headed off. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Sophie muttered, mostly to herself. Then, with a glance at the clock and a deep sigh, grabbed her brown paper bag and headed to the Band room.

_TBC..._

Yeah.. hopefully more soon. Please review! Constructive criticism appreciated!


End file.
